Posts Tagged ‘Anti-ship ballistic missile’

This is the most comprehensive single source I’ve seen on China’s space-based ELINT and SIGINT satellite systems, which are though to be an important piece of the “system of systems” associated with the targeting mechanism of the DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM). Worth checking out, at least the implications for the U.S. section, even if you aren’t interested in all the details about the individual satellites and so forth. Based on a wide variety of Chinese-language sources, from the Project 2049 Institute think tank in Arlington, VA.

Department of Defense (DOD) development work on high-energy military lasers, which has been underway for decades, has reached the point where lasers capable of countering certain surface and air targets at ranges of about a mile could be made ready for installation on Navy surface ships over the next few years. More powerful shipboard lasers, which could become ready for installation in subsequent years, could provide Navy surface ships with an ability to counter a wider range of surface and air targets at ranges of up to about 10 miles. These more powerful lasers might, among other things, provide Navy surface ships with a terminal-defense capability against certain ballistic missiles, including the anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) that China is believed to be developing.

Ongoing friction between China and Taiwan poses the most immediate threat to U.S. Navy operations in the Western Pacific.

But to Chinese leaders, the most instructive example of nautical might translating into political power is that of Japan. Japan’s history is an especially prescient warning about the dangers to Asia of an ambitious, well-armed regional hegemon. After becoming the dominant naval force in the Western Pacific during the first part of the twentieth century, Japan invaded, subjugated, and oppressed its neighbors, rapidly expanding its domain of control. Its ability to transport troops and material through the ocean made it a legitimate threat, from India to Hawaii.

China’s ASBM threat is serious, but the United States has the capacity to respond.